1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to machine presses, and particularly to machine presses with slides for performing cutting, forming, and transfer operations. The present invention is directed to such machine presses further comprising a plurality of slides for performing simultaneous multiple die stamping operations to several workpiece blanks removed from the same coil strip stock.
2. Prior Art
Although machine presses having a slide under a vertical driven press ram member are well known in the art, such presses have typically utilized only one master die set for generating a desired finished product. One such patent is U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,564, Blase, entitled "Machine Press With Positive Cam Driven Sliding Bed and Cam Activated Auxiliary Systems", which discloses a machine press wherein the vertical ram actuation and slide movement are positively mechanically interrelated to one another so as to perform multiple stamping and transfer operations to a workpiece blank. U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,564 is hereby incorporated by reference in this application.
The present invention expands upon such machine presses having a slide under a vertically driven ram by further providing at least one additional slide operating in conjunction with the first slide so as to allow the use of a plurality of master die sets on one machine press. In this manner, more than one die stamped part from separate workpiece blanks may be formed at the same time on different master die sets. Furthermore, the machine press is not only capable of generating additional finished die stamped items at the same time, but is also able to greatly minimize scrap normally associated with machine presses by proper feeding of the coil strip stock.